Elements Of Virtue - Book 1: Golden Earth
by Eroskigal
Summary: Years ago during an epic battle, Korra had her past lives taken away from her. Now that she is gone, the world lives on without an Avatar to protect it. Or so everyone thinks. Korra did something, something that could very well be taken advantage of...Meet Jin, an Earthbender with a strong sense of responsibility...He is the new Avatar.
1. Jasmine Dragon

Fire

Air

Water

Earth

Years ago, in an epic battle with Unalaq and Vaatu, Avatar Korra had her past lives ripped away from her, leaving no possibility for another Avatar to be born. Thus, she continued to live her life as the last Avatar in the world.

Years passed, and Avatar Korra has since disappeared from the world, leaving no traces of the Avatar left.

Or so everyone thought.

The truth was much different than what everyone knew. Korra had a secret that only those close to her would know. She did something that would change the world for the better.

And now, that secret will live on...Inside the next Avatar.

Book 1: Revive

Chapter 1: Jasmine Dragon

In the Inner Circle of Ba Sing Sae, there is a rather popular tea shop known as the Jasmine Dragon, having been around ever since the end of the Hundred Years War. People would flock there regularly, so they had a pretty good business.

In the front, a woman wearing glasses, her brown hair tied back into a bun, would act as the hostess of the place. With a kind smile, she greeted the customers. "Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, please have a seat."

In the back, the current owner of the place, sporting a white beard, was preparing the tea for the customers, although it was obvious there was something weighing on his mind. "Where is he?"

The tea shop was already busy as it is, and he didn't want to have anything held back, otherwise risk losing his business.

The back door burst open, and a young boy in his late teens, with spiky black hair, brown eyes, and wearing a work uniform came inside carrying a bag. From the looks of it, he seemed out of breath. "I got those tea leaves you wanted, Mr. Huang."

The man huffed. "Finally, what took you so long?"

The boy handed the bag over as the old man began to mix them into the tea. "Sorry about that. I ran into some trouble while trying to get these."

The man thought of asking the kind of trouble, but decided it would be best not to ask. "Just hurry and start serving tea to the customers."

"Yes sir."

Immediately, the boy was hard at work, smiling at the customers while serving scalding hot tea and trying not to burn himself. This kind of practice came to him naturally.

Carefully, he walked a tray of tea over to two customers sitting at a table. "Here's you're tea, please enjoy."

The customers at this particular table were kind of...strange. One was a skinny, short boy wearing a dark green tank top and light green shorts, and the other was skinny as well, but he was more tall and lanky than the younger boy. His style of dress was a little more stylish, but still sported green. "Thanks." The tall boy said, smiling oddly.

"Yeah, thanks." The little boy said, although it looked like he was trying to fight back a giggle.

These two seemed odd, but who was he to judge which customers were allowed to enter. "I've got new orders over here!"

His attention was snapped away from them. "Right, coming!"

More and more tea was being served to the customers, and work was getting done efficiently. Just another day of business. He was so immersed in his work that he barely noticed the two boys from before standing up to leave. The woman at the front had anticipated them coming to the register, but he managed to catch them walking right past her and sprinting out the door. He knew exactly what they were doing. "You two get back here!"

sprinting into action, the boy ran past the woman and out the door as well. "Jin, wait!"

It wasn't long before he started closing in on the boys, hearing them laughing like maniacs as if they had gotten away. They weren't going to escape.

With one swift spiral kick, a flat disk of Earth came flying out of the ground and ended up slamming into the older boy's back. By the looks on their faces, the two had clearly underestimated him. "An Earthbender." The youngest pointed out.

The two grinned evilly, and with all the strength they could muster, they picked up two chunks of Earth and flung them straight as Jin. He saw them coming, and summersaulted over them, flying upside down, and using one of the rocks as leverage. Once he landed right side up, he took a rather large chunk of the ground and aimed it at them. The brothers smoothly avoided it like air.

They proceeded to bolt with Jin as their pursuer. They were fast, he would admit, but he would end up being the one to catch them. The brothers used the Earth underneath them to propel themselves onto the roves of houses, so Jin did the same. Now a rooftop chase, Jin took every opportunity he could to fire Earth disks at them. They were mostly avoided however.

Nearing the end of the roof chase, Jin had almost caught up, so the boys knew they had to do something to lose him. The eldest jumped down from the roof, followed by Jin. Once the eldest landed on the ground, he used his Earthbending to create a wave of Earth underneath him, and in the exact place where Jin landed, the wave catapulted him into the air.

The brothers snickered like mad as they made a run for it. Luckily for Jin however, he ended up in a tree. It still hurt, but at least it wasn't concrete. If they were going to play dirty, than he might as well too.

The brothers were already in the town square, cackling with glee.

"Wow! we managed to pull it off!" The younger brother laughed.

"Yeah, I can't believe it! We totally got away!"

Their happiness was short-lived however, as they found the Earth collapsing beneath them, sucking them in until they were up to their waists. Naturally, they started freaking out, wondering what had happened.

Before they could bend themselves out, Jin landed in front of them creating a rather large vibration in the ground. "Now, you two are going to go back there, pay for your tea, otherwise you're going to prison, got it?"

Reluctantly, the brothers had no choice but to agree.

* * *

After that fiasco was taken care of, Jin had returned to the tea shop, where the day had come to a close.

"Jin, are you okay?" The woman asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks Yuki."

"You know it's dangerous to be chasing dashers, right?" Mr. Huang intervened.

"I know, but if we just let them get away, then we could grow a bad reputation and lose business."

Mr. Huang found himself laughing at that. "Well, I guess you're right about that."

Yuki scoffed, but found herself smiling as well. "Just be careful. You wouldn't want to get hurt."

"I know. I at least know enough Earthbending to defend myself."

That triggered a chord within Yuki." Speaking of Earthbending, isn't your sister coming back tomorrow?"

A nostalgic look crossed Jin's face. "Yeah, she's already completed her training. I still can't believe it's been ten years since I last saw her."

Smiling, Yuki said, "Well then, you should head home soon and rest for tomorrow."

There was a questioning look on his face. "Really? Because if you need me, I can do something right now."

Mr. Huang waved it off. "It's fine, we've got it covered. This is your only sibling we're talking about."

Jin smiled at them in return. "Thanks. I guess I'll head home now. Good night Yuki, good night Mr. Huang."

* * *

With all the money he had saved up over the years, he was able to afford a relatively nice one bedroom apartment. It was pretty spacious for a single person, but the rent was cheap, so he took it. And the best part was that it came with a stable.

He approached the first door on the left, and was greeted with a big lick to the face. With a laugh, he answered, "Nice to see you too, Haan."

Haan was the badgermole who had stuck with Jin ever since he was little. He was also the reason that Jin was able to learn basic Earthbending. "Guess who's coming back tomorrow."

He only received a loving grunt, but nevertheless, Jin said, "That's right, the one who fed you when you were a baby. You finally get to see her again."

Jin was pretty sure that Haan could understand him, since he had shown plenty of signs in the past. "Maybe tomorrow, we can all go for a ride outside the walls. I know you haven't been out in a while."

He started hugging Haan's snout, brushing up against his fur. "Finally, what's left of my family will be reunited. Plus I get to look forward to work everyday."

He sighed. "I like working at the Jasmine Dragon. It's much better than some of the other jobs I've had."

Quietly, he yawned. "I think I should head inside now. Get some sleep Haan, I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

 **AN: I never really do OC stories, or write authors notes, but this case is rather special. I wanted to do a sort of study on the Avatar universe and it's characters. I really like the idea of the Avatar reincarnating one after another, so I wanted to do something on that. Coming up with the plot for this story was actually really fun, thinking of answers to questions such as, Who is the new Avatar? Who is the new Team Avatar? How has the world changed? How will the world change by the time the story ends? I want to experiment with possible add-ons to the world while trying to keep the spirit and feel of the original Avatar.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story and characters, as there's a lot more to come.**


	2. Reunited At Last

Book 1: Revive

Chapter 2: Reunited At Last

The Outer Circle of Ba Sing Sae is home to the poorer people of the big city. But ever since the Earth Kingdom became a democracy, efforts have been made to change that. They weren't there yet, however, and the Outer Circle was still home to some homeless, and still had a ways to go. It was, however, improving, and the streets looked much nicer than they had been in the past.

A sigh came from inside one of the small houses as a little boy looked out the window, bored. "When's mother coming home?"

The other person in the room, a girl about his age, shrugged. "I don't know. She said she was going out to find father."

The boy scoffed. "She's not going to. Father hasn't been coming home lately. I wonder why?"

"Who knows? Mother never tells us anything."

The tense atmosphere was soon lifted as a knock was heard at their front door. Well, it wasn't really a knock, but more like something trying to ram the door down. Quietly, the boy walked over to the window and slowly peeled the curtains back.

"Who is it?" The girl asked, nervous.

"It's...a Badgermole."

Her nervousness had dissipated and was replaced with a questioning feeling. "What?"

"Yeah, it's a baby Badgermole...It doesn't look too good."

"Maybe we should let it in." She suggested.

The girl walked over to the door and opened it, revealing the little Badgermole. She gasped as she spotted bloody scratches all over it's body. The small thing seemed to be crying in pain. "Come in little guy, it's okay."

Not in the mood to protest, the baby agreed. The boy closed the door and followed his sister. "Go get the medicine kit from the hallway!" She ordered.

Immediately, the boy went for it while th girl tried to calm the Badgermole down with soothing words. Once he had presented the kit to her, she went to work, and began applying the standard materials. Once that was finished, she put on the finishing bandages. "Those should be fine for now. If you're still feeling bad, just tell us."

Finally, the boy decided to start asking questions. "How did it get here? And why was it so hurt?"

She sighed. "I don't know. Maybe it got separated from its' mother somehow."

"Well, what are we gonna do with it? I don't think we can keep it."

The girl smiled. "Maybe we can look for it's mother!"

The boy tilted his head. "Not a bad idea, but where are we gonna find a Badgermole in the city?"

She shrugged. "Maybe we can check the zoo? Or look outside the city?"

He shook his head. "There's no way they'd let us go out of the city by ourselves."

She stopped and sighed. "You're probably right. But if we can find it's mother, we'll have no choice but to keep it. Badgermoles grow to be pretty huge, so it'll need some sort of open space, and we just don't have that."

The boy began to think of another plan, when something clicked in his mind. "Maybe we can get some."

She blinked. "Huh?" "I remember two people who work in the stands talking about this thing called the Animal Registry. Basically, any animal entered inside the registry will be associated with a certain family. So if we put the Badgermole in the registry, he'll legally be a part of the family. They have to keep track of all the animals, since most of them grow to be pretty huge and cause the city damage. So if we were to move, the Badgermole would legally have to be provided some space."

She was kind of taken aback. "And...you learned all this from listening to people talking?"

He shrugged. "What? They talk about interesting things."

The day came to an end and the children were pretty tired. "Is mother coming back tonight?" The brother asked.

The sister yawned. "I don't know, just go to bed and see if she comes home tomorrow."

Of course they made sure to tuck in their little friend before going to sleep. The boy got down on his knees, tucked the Badgermole in, and watched it drift into a peaceful slumber. He didn't know why, but there was just some sort of connection he felt with him. He couldn't explain it, it was just there. Finally, after a few minutes, the boy left for his room.

* * *

About a year later, little Haan had been doing well as a part of the family. The twins did their best to raise and care for him. Badgermoles were natural born Earthbenders, and thus, helped the twins realize their hidden potential.

"I did it! I finally lifted a boulder out of the ground!" The boy exclaimed, gawking at the decent sized boulder he was lifting.

His sister scoffed. "That's nothing. Check out what I can do!"

With concentrated eyes and some heavy lifting, she pulled an even bigger rock out of the ground. The boy let a shocked expression overcome his face. "What? Where did you learn to do that?"

She smiled confidently. "It just came to me."

He of course, scoffed at this. "No way, Haan taught you, didn't he?"

She shook her head. "No, Haan taught you. I just have a natural talent for Earthbending."

"So are you saying you know more than the actual source of Earthbending?"

She shrugged. "I never said that, but with practice, I think I could become even better."

The boy merely rolled his eyes with a smile. "Yeah, right."

The sky was yellowing and the sun was setting, but the twins still took their time playing by the sakura trees. Soon, however, they saw a woman crossing the red bridge, accompanied by four men. She wore a long, green Cheongsam dress, and her long, brown hair was tied back into a bun. Her green eyes looked at the children with a mix of strictness and worry.

Immediately, they dropped what they were doing and ran over to her. "Mother! You're back!" The boy shouted to her.

The woman, it seemed, tried to hold back a smile. "We thought you might never come back!" The girl shouted.

The first thing she had said to them was, "Children, come with me. There is something I have to explain to you."

The excitement had disappeared and was replaced with curiosity. Silently, they followed their mother and the four men over the bridge and made it all the way out to a stretch limo. They exchanged looks with each other, neither knowing what was going on. The three of them had gotten the back seat, to themselves, while the men where further up front.

"Who are these guys?" The boy asked, wanting some answers.

"That isn't important." She answered coldly. "But I do have unfortunate news."

The girl gasped. "What is it?"

She answered straightforwardly. "Your father has been killed."

Understandable gasps were aroused, and the twins went pale. "...What...happened?" The girl asked after a long, tense silence.

She kept her cool. "He was attacked one night by a group of thieves."

Talking about it was draining, so she clenched her fist to her chest and stated down at the limo floor, trying to hold back tears. "I know this might be incredibly jarring, but life for us is changing as we know it."

She turned her attention to the girl. "You have shown a promising talent for Earthbending. I'm sending you to an Earthbending camp, where you will study and learn how to master it."

Her attention now faced the boy. "As for you, you will start working for Mr. Choi and helping him run his vegetable stand."

The twins took a second to let it all sink in. "But...why?"

Keeping calm in front of them was getting harder by the minute, but she had to stay strong for their sake. "Please, I know it's hard, but I am asking you both to trust me. I'm doing this for your well-being, so please, trust that I'm making the right decision."

They absolutely did not want to go through any of this, and being kids, that was understandable. But the look in their mother's eyes was just so worrisome and frightened, that they caved in, and agreed.

* * *

"Um, hey." He whispered over to his sister who was sleeping across the room from him.

It appeared that she couldn't sleep either. "Yes?"

The boy remained silent for a second, than sighed. "Are...we really separating?"

She didn't make a single noise. It didn't even sound like she was breathing. Eventually, she answered, "There's something mother's not telling us."

The boy released a breath he had been holding. "I know...but I think we should trust her. Maybe she's doing it to protect us."

She stared up at the ceiling, unblinking. "I know. I want to trust her, but...I want things to stay the same."

"Things won't be the same, now that father is..." He stopped talking, knowing that even saying the word would be too painful.

Sighing, he faced upward and shut his eyes, hoping to get even a lick of sleep. He opened his eyes, however, and found his sister lying next to him, with tears in her eyes. "I...I don't wanna leave! I wanna stay here with you and Haan a-and mother! E-Even if father is no l-longer with us, I-I-I-"

He tried his best to calm her down, but to no avail. He himself even let a few tears loose, knowing he couldn't keep them inside forever. "I-I know. I know it's hard, but...but, we'll see each other again."

After hearing that, she started to wipe away her tears. "R-Really?"

He forced a smile, trying to seem reassuring. "Yeah. I...don't know when, but we'll see each other again...I promise."

Her tears had pretty much dried out at this point, and her eyes were read and puffy. "Yeah, that's right...this isn't goodbye forever. Just...promise me you'll take care of Haan while I'm gone."

Sighing, he smiled. "I promise."

* * *

It had been ten years since those events occurred. Now at seventeen, Jin was standing at the Ba Sing Sae Metro Station, wearing one of his more nicer Changshans, which he rarely wore due to work, and waiting to see his only twin, whom he hadn't seen in so long. It was kind of strange, he thought, being honest with himself.

The station was running amok with people, busy to head to their jobs and their homes and families. Jin honestly wonder whether or not he would even recognize her, since it had been so long since he'd seen her last. All their lives, they had written back and forth to each other, which was how the meeting was arranged in the first place. But he didn't know what to expect, really.

Sighing, he pulled out his cell phone and looked over it. He couldn't do much with it, but he could at least check for missed calls. Turned out there were three. His landlord, who he was pretty good friends with, probably asking about rent. Yuki, probably to wish him good luck. And a random, unknown number, something that never really phased him. Nothing really major seemed to be happening.

"Jin?"

Snapping out of his gaze, Jin looked up to find a girl, just about his age, with brown hair, amber eyes, and two twin buns atop her head. She was wearing a green ao dai with white pants underneath, and looking at him expectantly.

"Nimyu?"

At this, she smiled wide, and looked to be on the verge of tears. Immediately, the reunited siblings hugged each other, and embraced each other for a good long while. After they separated, they quickly got to talking.

"Wow, you look different." Jin commented.

"You do to." She smiled, "I almost didn't recognize you at first, but then I saw your hair and immediately made the connection."

He laughed. "Well, let's head back to my apartment and catch up. I'm sure we both have a lot to say after all this time."


End file.
